1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical module, a method of manufacturing the optical module, and a data communication system including the optical module.
2. Discussion of the Background
U. S. Patent Application Publication No. US2002/0114590 A1 discloses an optical interface for a 4-channel opto-electronic transmitter-receiver module. The optical interface for the 4-channel opto-electronic transmitter-receiver module includes a module housing, a transmitter chip, a receiver chip and an adapter unit. The module housing includes at least one housing wall, and is provided with a wall opening in the housing wall. The transmitter chip includes a 4-channel laser diode array, and the receiver chip includes a 4-channel photodetector array. The transmitter chip and the receiver chip are mounted in the wall opening. The adapter unit includes eight optical fibers, each of which has a proximal fiber end and an opposite fiber end.
Proximal fiber ends of the optical fibers are grouped in two fiber end arrays. Each of the two fiber end arrays is supported in optical alignment with a corresponding one of the 4-channel laser diode array and the 4-channel photodetector array. Each of the two fiber end arrays includes four fiber ends evenly spaced apart from each other. The two fiber end arrays are spaced apart from each other by a distance greater than spacing between adjacent optical fibers in each of the two fiber end arrays.